Betreff: DEREK HATFIELD DISMASTS Absender: "Aroundalone" Empfänger: redaktion@segel.de Datum: 08. Mar 2003 00:15 DEREK HATFIELD DISMASTS Just when fans of the Around Alone thought they would able to breath a big sigh of relief knowing that the last yacht had made it around Cape Horn bringing the fleet safely out of the Southern Ocean, disaster struck, and it has struck one of the most vulnerable competitors. Shortly after 16:30 GMT, Derek Hatfield on Spirit of Canada called Race Operations and his shore team to give them the bad news. His mast had come crashing down and the keel problems that he was already experiencing, appeared to be worsening. This is very unfortunate news for Hatfield, and indeed for the race in general. Derek is one of the most respected and liked of all the skippers and to have such a disaster strike at this inopportune time is bad news in the extreme. The only consolation is that Hatfield will be the one skipper who will come through this latest setback with determination and renewed energy. HeÂ’s just that kind of guy. The details of what happened are still a bit sketchy. Spirit of Canada had just past Cape Horn and was sailing in horrendous conditions. The wind was gusting to 70 knots as a tight weather cell passed to the south of the boat. The seas were gigantic and Derek was shepherding his craft past the infamous island and sailing towards the Strait of Le Maire. Suddenly the worst happened. In seconds the mast was down and hanging over the side of the boat. With the seas running high the only possible plan of action was to cut the whole lot loose before it punched a hole in the side of the boat. In a brief satellite phone call Hatfield described the damage. "Not only is the mast gone," he said. "But the boat is badly damaged. The stanchions are gone, I have lost hatch covers and my generator is not working. I have also lost much of my communications equipment." Derek also stressed that although conditions were grim on board, he was in no immediate danger and was not in need of assistance. The keel issue was concerning him, but he felt sure that it would not endanger the boat. Race Operations have alerted the nearest competitor, Alan Paris, sailing on BTC Velocity. Derek and Alan are great friends and the news has gutted Paris. He immediately sent an email offering assistance and in it eloquently described what blow this is for Spirit of Canada. "I have just received a call from Race Opps informing me that Derek has been dismasted right off Cape Horn," he wrote. "I feel horrible and have to admit that the emotions in me are running so high that I was just literally shedding tears of frustration for my good friend Derek. He and I have been dreaming of the Around Alone since we first met in 1995, doing the Bermuda - One Two. We have become friends and swapped much information and encouragement in the lead up to the race. I flew to Canada to his beautiful boat, Spirit of Canada during its construction stages, a yacht that Derek, family and friends built over a period of three years. In the weeks prior to the start Derek, his shore crew and myself were housed by the same family in Newport and our bond, determination and passion for this grueling race became even stronger. This has been a bad leg for Derek, first electronics, then his keel mechanism, but all were surmountable with his consistent determination and desire to compete. Losing his mast is another story. I don't know if he can recover from this catastrophic loss. His is a non-sponsored campaign. Time and finances are not on his side. If ever there was a time that someone who has been encouraged, inspired or lived vicariously through Derek's (and the other skippers) exploits and wants to help, particularly financially, now is the time. What we have is a good man down and he needs help." It takes a competitor like Alan Paris to know exactly what his friend is going through. There but for the grace of god could go any of the competitors. Luck, both good and bad, is a random thing. This has not been an easy leg for Spirit of Canada. First Derek had to return to New Zealand to fix an electrical problem, and then the hydraulic ram that moves his canting keel burst a seal rendering the mechanism useless. Both of those problems pale when compared to this latest disaster. The only fortunate side to the whole mess is that it happened in close proximity to land. An expedition ship returning from Antarctica was already scheduled to rendezvous with Spirit of Canada (the management company is run by friend of DerekÂ’s). They had been anticipating an exciting, fun-filled rendezvous. Now they will be on a much more serious mission; to stand by a stricken yacht and lend a hand if necessary. For now the wind is still howling well over 40 knots while Derek is bracing for a long night ahead. During the phone call the keel could be heard moving from side to side, and every now and then Derek had to stop speaking to steady himself while the boat was being knocked down. ItÂ’s a hellish situation on board but Derek Hatfield is nothing if not a plucky sailor with an intense resolve. He is also a great seaman. The future for this campaign looks grim at best. Only tomorrow will tell what can be salvaged and if Derek Hatfield will be able to fulfill his dream of a solo circumnavigation. For now he is heading to Ushuaia in Southern Argentina where he will rendezvous with his shore team already en route. We will keep you posted. You can also follow happeneings on Derek's website www.spiritofcanada.net. --- Brian Hancock great.circle@verizon.net Betreff: ATTRITION FACTOR AND FRUSTRATION RISING Absender: "Aroundalone" Empfänger: redaktion@segel.de Datum: 07. Mar 2003 21:01 ATTRITION FACTOR AND FRUSTRATION RISING ELASTIC STRETCHES BETWEEN SOLIDAIRES AND BOBST GROUP-ARMOR LUX - ETA MONDAY 10TH MARCH CLASS 1 DEALING WITH AGONY OF LIGHT AIR RACING CLASS 2 DEALING WITH RIGOURS OF RIDING STORMS PARIS JOINS CAPE HORNER CLUB HATFIELD REPORTS KEEL PROBLEMS OFF CAPE HORN SCHWAB SETS OFF TO CATCH UP FROM BEHIND HEXAGON ON TOW TO PUERTO MADRYN Salvador, Brazil - 7th March 03. The CENAB in Salvador de Bahia is ready to welcome the Around Alone boats to warm and relaxing Brazilian shores, and yet the last 600 miles of this 7,880m leg from Tauranga is proving to be the most nail-biting part. The top four boats are averaging 6 knots boatspeed, and the piece of elastic between Class 1 leader Thierry Dubois on Solidaires and current overall leader Bernard Stamm on Bobst Group-Armor Lux is stretched to just 52 miles. Only 313 m behind the leader, Simone Bianchetti has opened up another 80 miles between Tiscali and Emma Richards on Pindar from the 7 mile distance that was separating them just a couple of days ago. To add insult to injury, the leading boats are now facing what wind there is head on as they level with Rio de Janeiro. So the feeling out on the ocean today is one of utter frustration as light airs racing can be far more exacting than surviving a fifty knot storm. Dubois has opted to head inshore to the left of the direct route in the headwinds, whereas Stamm reindexs 2 degrees further offshore. Dubois struck a rather dramatic cord when he declared on email: "I had to make a sacrifice to satisfy the wind gods todayÂ…" and then promptly sent a photo of a cuddly Kiwi toy sitting on the stern of his boat - in flames! "It was either him or me!" he protested. Emma has been practicing "self-counselling" to get through the agony by writing long emails about every frustration she has been experiencing on board, from calculating how long it would take to reach Salvador at 2 knots, to spending 2 hours trying to tack through the boat when a light wind shift arrives only to watch it dissipate and shift again, leaving Pindar in irons. Class 2 leader Brad Van Liew on Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America has temporarily stopped flying as he too enters the transition zone between Southern Ocean and South Atlantic weather systems. This is where his 900 mile lead may start to evaporate as in a reverse situation the skippers behind him are bearing the brunt of the too much breeze. Tim Kent on Everest Horizontal and Kojiro Shiraishi on Spirit of yukoh reported to be in a heavy upwind gale NE of the Falklands. Kent was on the deck standing with one arm around the storm jib furler when he got lifted off his feet by the impact of a huge wave. "Had I not been holding onto the furler, I would have been swept to the end of the tether on my safety harness. As it was, it just knocked the wind out of me." Kojiro's repair list is getting longer: "The wind instruments, the port helm and the auto pilots are all in need of repair. I am punching into a hea vy storm and with safety in mind." Another skipper was added to the distinguished list of Cape Horners this morning as Alan Paris sailed his Open 40 BTC Velocity around the rock at 00:30 GMT in pretty fearful conditions, 26 days after leaving Tauranga and just over 12 days after Bobst Group-Armor Lux: "Around 2 pm it was blowing a solid 45 kts with gusts to 50 kts. This coincided with the depth change that goes from 4000 m to 65 m as you approach the Horn and the waves built up very quickly and were coming from 3 directions. Wave height was approximately 25 feet. BTC Velocity was knocked down 2 times; however, one of those times I was at the mast taking down the index sail as it was blowing a good 50 kts. I heard a roar and all of sudden my world was looking at the water only a few feet from my face and we were horizontal to the surface. Wow. That's a first and quite an experience. This has been a great goal to achieve on the way to the ult imate goal of a solo circumnavigation. To be the first Bermudian to solo the southern oceans and pass the great capes of Good Hope, Leuwin and now Cape Horn is quite an honor." News of the injured boats; 200 miles from Cape Horn Derek Hatfield reported in that the canting keel mechanism had failed. "The outer seal of the ram has failed and allowed all fluid to escape from the system. I have locked the keel off on the centerline and am sailing normally under reduced sail area." Losing hydraulic pressure on the keel means a drastic reduction of manoeuvrability for Spirit of Canada. Hatfield is currently rounding Cape Horn in fairly strong winds and is being closely monitored. He intends to rendez-vous with his shore manager at Port Stanley in the Falklands in about 5 days to replace the ram. Bruce Schwab is heading North again on Ocean Planet after spending 5 days in Port Stanley, and is recording the best 24hr run of all the Class 1 boats, hoping to catch up the miles quickly as the leaders slow up ahead. Graham Dalton has got the Argentinian Coast Guard to tow Hexagon at 6 knots towards Puerto Madryn in Argentina. Only on reaching land and assessing his options, will Dalton make a decision as to the solution for the mast problem. His ETA is this evening. However, he has also discovered since the dismasting that the device holding the pin, which attaches the ram to the keel, had detached and loosened the pin itself. "I was just in time. Had the pin fallen out; the keel would have been left swinging freely beneath the boat. The result could have been catastrophic." ETA FIRST BOAT: MONDAY 10TH MARCH POSITIONS AT 1400GMT 7th MARCH 2003 You can track the race boats using RayTech 4.1 navigational software by going to the Positions page online and clicking on the link to the Raymarine website at the top of the index chart. Class 1 Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp Avgheading DTF 1 Solidaires 22 58.100 S 38 45.530 W 6.22 kt 335 °T 599.96 nm 2 Bobst Group-Armor Lux 23 40.170 S 36 30.340 W 4.42 kt 16 °T 651.96 nm 3 Tiscali 27 43.380 S 41 39.500 W 5.89 kt 57 °T 913.17 nm 4 Pindar 28 46.310 S 43 02.500 W 8.52 kt 25 °T 1002.53 nm 5 Ocean Planet 47 37.220 S 53 54.170 W 9.81 kt 60 °T 2237.24 nm 6 Hexagon 43 40.890 S 62 23.110 W 4.81 kt 284 °T 2285.73 nm Class 2 Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp Avgheading DTF 1 Tommy Hilfiger 32 47.340 S 42 17.430 W 5.57 kt 38 °T 1211.28 nm 2 Everest Horizontal 46 09.260 S 51 02.380 W 12.05 kt 64 °T 2104.25 nm 3 Spirit of yukoh 48 35.030 S 51 49.410 W 9.06 kt 36 °T 2249.36 nm 4 BTC Velocity 54 57.470 S 64 12.580 W 8.84 kt 57 °T 2818.65 nm 5 Spirit of Canada 56 05.290 S 66 55.480 W 8.70 kt 80 °T 2935.80 nm International Media Relations: Mary Ambler - Email: mambler@clipper-ventures.com - Mobile: +44 (0) 7887 643 583 Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE